Working With the Indigenous People

Archbishop Joseph (Guillaume Laurent) Forbes was the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Ottawa from from 1928 until the time of his death in 1940. Archbishop Forbes is an example of one of our Church leaders who had a relationship with the Indigenous peoples living in the Archdiocese which was based on respect and service. 

In his first years as a priest, Archbishop Forbes served as curate, and then pastor, at Caughnawaga [Kahnawake] of the Mohawk Nation. During his 15 years at Kahnawake, he learned to speak and write fluently the native language. He produced many written resources for the Mohawk Nation in Kahnawake including letters, prayers, a catechism and many other things.

Following his ordination as a bishop, he was known to return to his first parishioners in order to celebrate Confirmations.  He also ordained the first known First Nations man to the priesthood. 

In published reports after his death, it was reported that he lamented the fact that the native language was disappearing. 

In 2005, a campaign called Moving Forward Together was in place to raise money that went to the Indigenous-led Legacy of Hope Foundation, which organizes and supports education about the residential school system and Canada’s history of colonization.

At the time of the campaign, the Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall were two separate dioceses.

Archdiocese of Ottawa
The former Archdiocese of Ottawa contributed $250,000 to the “Moving Forward” campaign. It was contributed in five installments of $50,000 a year. Part of this contribution went to establishing bursaries for Indigenous students in the name of Archbishop Forbes (see above.)  

When the discussion was had about Ottawa's contribution to the “Moving Forward” campaign, different ideas were presented including an archdiocesan, parish based collection. It was noted at the time that special collections usually raise about $30,000. This was not going to be enough to make a good effort towards supporting the campaign. Instead, the archdiocese committed to contributing $50,000 a year for five years out of archdiocesan funds for a total of $250,000. A portion of that amount came from the diocesan tax contributed by parishes. At the time, it was felt that this would be a better way of contributing a significant amount of money over time rather than a one-time collection.

The contributions were shared locally with Indigenous Programs, including St. Paul’s University and Kateri Native Ministry. Nationally, the contributions supported “Return to Spirit” programs in Western Canada, as well as two initiatives for early school support for indigenous children: “Nativity Schools” in Regina (Mother Teresa School) and Winnipeg (Gonzaga School).

Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall
The former Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall contributed to the campaign by sponsoring an initiative with St. Joseph Catholic Secondary School to sponsor the building of a canoe. The purpose of the gift was to “provide aboriginal students an opportunity to experience the traditional craft of canoe building under the guidance and directions of a skilled aboriginal craftsman and teacher.”

The diocese pledged to contribute for four years and the project resulted in one canoe being built and blessed; additional canoes were not built because of the difficulty in retaining an available skilled craftsman.